Charles Frohman's first successful New York production was Bronson Howard's rousing four-act drama set during the American Civil War, but it was first produced in a poorly received version in Boston in November 1888. Howard's revisions and a stronger New York production led to its triumph when it opened at the Star Theatre on 9 September 1889 for 250 performances. A sweeping melodramatic romanticism blended with social significance and touches of realism combined to make it one of the most popular plays of its day, although critics carped about the complexity of its plot involving two West Point classmates who become officers in the opposing armies at the outbreak of the Civil War. Southerner Robert Ellingham is taken prisoner and his sister is arrested as a spy and brought to Kerchival West, who protects her because he is in love with her. Confederate prisoner Thornton stabs West, but to save himself attempts to frame him by claiming that West has been the lover of the wife of his superior, General Haverhill. Thornton believes he has prevailed when it is discovered that West has a locket containing a portrait of Mrs. Haverhill, but West says he took the locket from a young soldier, Lieutenant Bedloe, who turns out to be the Haverhill's son fighting under an assumed name. Taken prisoner, Bedloe is exchanged for Robert and the two old friends continue to serve their respective armies until the war ends and they can be reunited with their lovers. The 1913 motion picture of the same name was adapted from the Howard play, but a 1965 film, and the 1975 Broadway musical based on it, although similarly set in the Civil War, otherwise bear little resemblance to Howard's play.
The Historical Dictionary of the American Theater. James Fisher.